MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE 221 themselves at his feet, and cast dust upon their heads according to a national usage, supplicating his forgiveness for the fault which they had committed. For twenty years the name of Kosciusko had not been heard in Poland save as that of an exile ; yet it still retained its ancient power over Polish hearts ; a power never used but for some good and generous end. The Emperor Alexander honored him with a long interview, and offered him an asylum in his own country. But nothing could induce Kosciusko again to see his unfortunate native land. In 1815 he retired to Soleure, in Switzerland; where he died, October 16, 181 7, in consequence of an injury received by a fall from his horse. Not long before he had abolished slavery upon his Polish es- tate, and declared all his serfs entirely free, by a deed registered and executed with every formality that could insure the full performance of his intention. The mortal remains of Kosciusko were removed to Poland at the expense of Alexander, and have found a fitting place of rest in the cathedral of Cracow, be- tween those of his companions in arms, Joseph Poniatowski, and the greatest of Polish warriors, John Sobieski. MARQUIS DE LA FAYETTE* By William F. Peck (175 7-1 834) M' arie Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert Motier, Marquis de la Fayette, f one of the most celebrated men that France ever pro- duced, was born at Chavaignac, in Auvergne, on September 6, 1757, of a noble family, with a long line of illustrious ancestors. Left an orphan at the age of thirteen, he married, three years later, his cousin Anastasie, Countess de Noailles. Inspired from the earliest age with a love of freedom and aversion to constraint, the impulses of childhood became the day- dreams of youth and the realities of maturer life. Filled with enthusiastic sympathy for the struggling colonies of America in their contest with Great Britain, he offered his services to the United States, and, though his enterprise was forbidden by the French Gov- ernment, hired a vessel, sailed for this country, landed at Charleston in April, t The condensed form of the name, when used apart from the title, is preferable to the open, for, though he employed the conventional style, De La Fayette, up to the time of the French Revolution, he then abandoned it, and always afterward wrote it as one word, Lafayette, which is now the family name.
- Copyright, 1894, by Selmar Hess.
